Court date postponed in Ward extortion case
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
PITTSBURGH – A court date for a man charged with trying to extort $15,000 from former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward has been postponed by more than a month.The attorney for 26-year-old Joshua Van Auker says he needs more time to investigate the charges and the evidence.Van Auker had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing Tuesday in which a judge would decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial. The hearing was postponed until Dec. 3.Van Auker is accused of contacting Wards’ personal assistant last week and threatening to release an unspecified envelope’s worth of material that Van Auker said would show Ward had paid women for sex.Investigators say the information doesn’t reach that level.